1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



25 



ARCHITECTURE. 



Lkctdre II. By Professor Cockerell. 



(Specially reported for this Journal.) 



The Professor, who intimated in his last lecture that it was his intention 

 to refer more particularly to church architecture commenced by remarking 

 that the intimate connexion of religion with their art, threw, as it were, a veil 

 of sanctity over all their proceedings. The most illustrious professors of the 

 art were remarkable for their piety; they were wont to have solemn masses, 

 and to offer up prayers upon the commencement of any great undertaking. 

 " Unless the Lord build the house," said they, "we labour but in vain." That 

 Sir Christopher Wren was fully conscious of the sanctity of the undertaking 

 in which he was engaged when building St. Paul's Cathedral, was clearly 

 evinced by an order which he had exhibited over the building, prohibiting 

 the use of oaths amongst the workmen upon pain of instant dismissal. It 

 was indeed a fact, that whilst an acquaintance with many branches of learning 

 induced to scepticism, the study of the true and beautiful led to piety. 



It had unfortunately happened that hitherto we had had no original style 

 of architecture suited to the ritual and formularies of the Protestant church. 

 In the 16th century our churches were made copies of the then existing 

 Popish churches, and these forms had been perpetuated up to this very day. 

 The time, however, would shortly come when Protestant churches should 

 have a style of their own more suited to their worship, and more lovely than 

 the mother whence they sprung. " Mater pulchra,fitia pulchrior." 



The commissioners appointed in the reign of Queen Anne to inquire into 

 the matter of church architecture had succeeded in leaving some beautiful 

 specimens of their taste, but they spent upon eleven churches what was 

 meant to serve fifty, and otherwise did not perform their duty as could have 

 been wished. Such an enormous outlay and such a departure from duty 

 thereby involved could not have occurred in France, where the government 

 took such matters under their special cognizance and protection, for tlie 

 Institute would at once have been consulted, who would have reported 

 to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners the course most proper for them to pur- 

 sue. In our country it was a most melancholy fact that whilst other sub- 

 jects of far less importance constantly received the supervision of the state, 

 such matters as these were entirely left to chance — to the accident of learned 

 men, or otherwise, who might preside at the time. The consequence of 

 such a system was the perpetuation of enormous heresies in art. 



Since the 16th century then, the form of the papal temple had been re- 

 tained, and the basilica of the western world had been retained with it; 

 and how deeply rooted was the feeling in favour of the basilica, might be 

 imagined from the fact that almost all the churches of the present day were 

 in that form. 



The Camden Society had decided upon the pointed style of architecture of 

 the 13th and 15th centuries, as the best adapted to Christian churches. That 

 that style exceeded many others in boldness of design, it was not to be denied, 

 but that it excelled in suitableness to the ritual, was a very questionable 

 point which it would be desirable to discuss ; and, in doing so hereafter, 

 he should direct the attention of the students to the plan and distribu- 

 tion rather than to the elevation ; to the fundamental system of the struc- 

 ture appealing to the understanding, rather than to superficial forms appeal- 

 ing only to the eye. The Camden Society seemed to catch at that which 

 was gratifying to the eye, whilst they passed over the more important details 

 which recommended themselves to the understanding. The amateur gene- 

 rally, indeed, understood by architecture, the elevation only, but the intelli- 

 gent architect regarded the disposition and the plan as the two bases of his 

 work. 



The forms of churches employed by Constantlne were four. I, The ba- 

 silica; 2, The circular ; 3, The octagonal ; 4, The square or oblong. There 

 were 18 basilicas in Rome, and St. Augustine introduced that form into this 

 country in the year 596. 



The second form was employed by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, 

 who was a native of York. That form was probably adopted from the tomb 

 which she built at the holy sepulchre, and was in pretty general use until the 

 dissolution, in 1312, of the Knights Templars' body, who employed that form 

 in imitation of [the sepulchre of Christ, which they were appointed to guard. 

 The octagonal form was also employed by Constantine, in Anlioch, of which 

 the church in Aix-la-Cbapelle, by Charlemagne, was no doubt a copy ; and 

 this form was admirably adapted for the purpose of separating the male and 

 female worshippers, as was then customary. Its adaptation to our ritual was 

 well exemplified in the church of St. Dunstan, in Fleet Street, by Mr. Shaw. 

 The Fourth form, a square, like the basilica, was divided into three parts, 

 having a nave and two aisles, and the centre of the nave was surmounted 

 by a dome. This form was called indronicd forma. It was remarkably 

 well suited to the protestant ritual. It was still employed in the Greek 

 church, sometimes tetrastyle, and there were also a great many of that 

 form in Germany. The four columns supporting the dome were, accord- 

 ing to some writers, symbolical of the four evangelists. It was custo- 

 mary to run up these domes to a very great height ; Eusebius says of Con- 

 stantine, " ad summam altitudinem, erejcit, S(c." Two principal types now 

 contended for the pre-eminence, the Basilica, and the Byzantine, or vertical 

 type. The Byzantine appeared best suited to us : as in the Byzantine style, 

 ■m required galleries ; but our ritual did not require the long nave and aisles 



through which the Roman Catholic was accustomed to view the Host, Pil- 

 lars were an obstruction to the ritual of our church, and the fewer the 

 pillars the better. With regard to the exterior, in his opinion, a large 

 dome on the centre of the church, with smaller domes clustered around, 

 afforded a very beautiful view. Our own church of St. Stephen, Walbrook, 

 was a remarkable specimen of the beautiful grouping of domes, but it was 

 unfortunately almost entirely hid from the gaze by the buildings with which 

 it was surrounded. 



The fact of the Russian churches being generally built after the Byzantine 

 type furnished another reason in favour of that form, for the Russians were 

 early converted to Christianity by missionaries from Constantinople, where the 

 Byzantine form prevailed. 



A glorious opportunity was offered by the Fire of London for suiting the 

 temples of Christians to the uses and rubrics of our church. The matter was 

 entrusted to the learned Archbishop Sancroft and Bishop Compton, — than 

 whom, perhaps, no better qualified persons could have been found, — and 

 aided by the immortal Wren, they left some beautiful models, as a living tes- 

 timony of the genius with which they were inspired. One great reproach, 

 which must adhere to Wren, was his modesty, which prevented his giving 

 publicity to the principles by which he was guided in the execution of his 

 works ; had he left behind him any principles upon which he himself acted, 

 they would must assuredly be regarded as canons by the students of the pre- 

 sent day. 



The learned Professor concluded his lecture by referring to church nomen- 

 clature. He thought that the cardinal virtues and graces might well be ap- 

 plied as the names of churches. The ccclesiologist appeared to be hard 

 pushed for names, when he recommended such a one as St. John Pantiana, 

 which, says the Ecclesiologist, " Though an uncommon, is a very beautiful 

 name." if euphony were all that was cared for, it would be easy enough to 

 find plenty of pretty names; but he thought something more should be 

 aimed at than a mere pleasing sound. 



[We had hoped to have afforded our readers much gratification by pub- 

 lishing the lectures of Professor Cockerell on this highly interesting subject 

 at full length, as we did in our last number with his first lecture. Professor 

 Cockerell has, however, intimated to our reporter that it is not his desire tu 

 have his lecture fully reported, and has given him to understand, that an at- 

 tempt at a verbatim report in future would cause his exclusion altogether 

 from the course. We are consequently enabled this week to do no more 

 than present our readers with a very faint outline of the Professor's second 

 lecture ; and as that gentleman does not object to the publication of a brief 

 abstract, we shall, with his kind permission, publish his remaining lectures 

 in that form. We very much regret that we shall thus be precluded from 

 presenting to the public his very admirable expositions of the art which be 

 10 ably represents. — Ed. C. E. & A. Jodr.] 



ILAM HALL. 



Sir — There should be no occasion for making this inquiry, as the infor- 

 mation should have been supplied by the account which induces me to seek 

 further particulars relative to what appears to be a superior specimen of its 

 kind. Ham Hall, Derbyshire, the seat of .Mr. Watts Russell, is said to 

 have been erected " a few years ago," and to be remarkable for the " happy 

 unison of both exterior and interior magnificence " displayed in it j the 

 entrance hall and armoury being " finished off" in oriental magnificence. 

 Nevertheless, there is nothing further said to bear out such character, nor 

 are we told who was the architect of so superior a work, although his name 

 might very well have been mentioned, notwithstanding the " want of space," 

 which seems to be the never failing excuse for withholding matters of posi- 

 tive information, perhaps at the very same time that the writer is evidently 

 ekeing out his paragraphs with more twaddle or fustian — as is the case when 

 we are told that " what renders the charm still greater, is the perfect feeling 

 of domestic comfort which remains unsullied by the grandeur which sur- 

 rounds us." The idea of being " unsullied by grandeur," is certainly a new 

 one. What description there is of the mansion is given only in a coarse and 

 vilely drawn lithograph, which, however, serves to show that the structure 

 is chiefly in the Elizabethan style, unusually picturesque in outline and in the 

 grouping of its parts. Beyond this, nothing is to be made out, all besides 

 being left to the imagination — to be shaped out for themselves by those 

 who can perceive what beauties of detail and execution such a subject is 

 capable of. 



I would, therefore, fain elicit from some one of your readers, should any 

 of them have visited the building — or from the architect himself, should this 

 meet his eye, a more satisfactory and intelligible account of it. For anony- 

 mousness in architecture no reasonable motive of any kind can be assigned; 

 certainly not, where a building would reflect credit upon the name of its 

 author. Even the paltry lithograph view above-mentioned has the name of 

 the artist boldly stuck at one corner of it ; therefore, he is evidently neither 

 ashamed of his handy-work, nor at all loth to receive whatever fame it may 

 bring him. I remain, 



Yours, &c., 



iNaCIBEB. 



